Protector



May 31, 1938. R. MCK. MANN' 2,119,396

PROTECTOR Filed oct. r29, 195e J l *HJ* Y INVENTOR Patented May 31, 1938UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PRQTECTOR Application October 29, 1936,Serial No. 108,245

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in protectors, and moreparticularly to improvements in arm protectors to beworn by industrialworkers.

Many industrial workers handle heavy hot metal articles, as, forexample, sheets, having sharp edges from which the arms of the workersmust be protected. At the same time any protective device should becomfortable, light in Weight, easily cleaned and of comparatively lowcost of manufacture. I provide an arm protector which gives positiveprotection, is extremely resistant to ordinary wear and tear, and isvery comfortable. It is light in weight and ts the arm of the wearerperfectly because it is flexible and readily adjustable. The Worker caneasily fasten the protector to his arm or speedily remove it. Inaddition, it may be easily cleaned.

My protector preferably comprises a base of soft flexible partiallywoolen material which surrounds the arm of the wearer, and a flexibleprotective covering which is removably vattached to the base. 'I'hisprotective covering is preferably armored, as with metallic staples, toprovide additional protection against sharp edges. Means are alsoprovided for securing the protector to the arm of a wearer.

It has heretofore been proposed to provide an arm protector of thegeneral type above mentioned. Such a protector is disclosed in UnitedStates Patent No.' 1,851,011. My protector is an improvement on thestructure disclosed in said patent and obtains important advantagesthereover. A base made of substantially pure Wool fibers is disclosed bythe patent, whereas my base is of only partially woolen material. I havefound that such a base is much less irritating to the skin of thewearer. In the arm protector of the patent the armored protectivecovering is permanently fastened to the base. I detachably fasten thecover to the base whereby the utility of the protector is greatlyincreased. Its cleaning is handling metal sheets as they come off amill, he will not have time to take the arm protector completely ofi hisarm in order to smooth out some unevenness, but he can loosen one ormore of the fasteners which secure the protective cov- 5 ering Vto thebase and quickly make temporary adjustments.

Other advantages and details of construction of my invention will becomeapparent as the following description of a present preferred embodimentthereof proceeds.

In the accompanying drawing, I have shown a present preferredvembodiment of the invention, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of thebase of an arm protector;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the protective coverlng;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view to enlarged scale taken on the lineIII--III of Figure 2 and showing the protective covering in place on thebase, the protective covering being indicated separately. beforeattachment to the base in chain lines; and

Figure 4 is a transverse cross-sectional View to the same scale asFigure 3 taken on the line IV-IV of Figure 2, and showing the coveringin place on the base.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, there is shown a base 5 ofsuicient length to encircle the Wearers arm and to slightly overlap.Because this base is in direct contact with the wearers arm, it must bemade of material having a soft texture. Any suitable material may beused, but I prefer to use heavy cloth which is part Wool and partcotton. This material not only has a soft surface but is flexible,comparatively light in weight and capable of absorbing a large amount ofperspiration. I have found that cloth containing about wool isespecially advantageous as causing the least irritation to the skin ofthe wearer. The edge of the base may be reinforced by stitching such asa blanket stitch 6 shown in Figure 1. Additional reinforcing stitching lmay also be used.

One edge 8 of the base 5 is folded back on itself as shown in Figure 1,and held in place by the stitching l. This edge is nearest the hand ofthe wearer and the double layer protects the wearer beyond theprotective covering, later to 50 be described, while affording greaterfreedom of movement. The edge -8 is not folded back on itself throughoutthe entire length of the edge of the base 5, but extends only the lengthof the protective covering in order that the balance of 55 the basewhich overlaps when in use will not be unnecessarily bulky.

The protective covering is designated generally by reference numeral 9.It is made of material heavier than the material of the base, but isstill flexible. Leather is especially suitable. To prevent theprotective covering from being cutby metal articles having sharp edges,such as sheets, its surface is preferably covered with metallic staplesIl). These staples are so arranged that the surface of the protectivecovering 9 is adequately armored without any substantial decrease inexibility. i

The protective covering 9 carries spring eyelets or snappers II whichcooperate with studs I2 mounted on` the base 5 as shown in Figure l.These spring eyelets II and studs I2 provide an effective means fordetachably securing the protective covering to the base 5.

Hollow eyelets I3 are located at intervals in the protective coveringand provide ventilation for the base 5 and allow moisture absorbed bythe base to evaporate. The eyelets I3 extend only through the protectivecovering 9 and not through the base 5. The eyelets are preferablydisposed opposite unperforated portions of the base. Thus, the eyeletsdo not come into contact with the skin of the wearer whereby they mightcause irritation. Also the positioning of the eyelets oppositeunperforated portions of the base provides for most effectiveevaporation of perspiration absorbed by the base from the skin of thewearer. y

To secure the protector to the arm of the wearer, I provide straps III,preferably made of leather, carrying buckles I5 and attached to theprotective covering 9 by rivets I6. The buckles I5 are adjustable alongthe straps I l and carry spring eyelets or snappers Il. When theprotector is disposed about the wearers arm the straps I4 extend to theend of the protective covering 9 opposite the end to which they areattached and the buckles I5 are adjusted so that the snappers I'Icooperate with studs I8 mounted on the protective covering 9.

The straps I4 are preferably attached by the rivets I6 only to theprotective covering 9 and not to the base 5. This further facilitatesreplacement of the base as the protective covering will ordinarilyoutlast several bases and when changing bases it is not necessary to doanything with the straps and buckles which are attached only to theprotective covering.

Thus my protector gives positive protection to the wearer withoutcausing irritation, and is light in weight, flexible, readilyadjustable, and provides for effective evaporation of perspiration. Itcan be easily cleaned, and can be manufactured and kept in repair atlov/ cost.

While I have shown and described a present preferred embodiment of myinvention, it is to be distinctly understood that the same is notlimited thereto but may be otherwise variously embodied within the scopeof the following claims.

I claim:

l. An arm protector comprising a flexible base of suficient size toencircle a wearers arm, flexible protective means having a plurality ofsmall metallic particles spaced about the surface thereof, saidprotective means covering a portion of said base and being detachablysecured thereto, said protective means having hollow eyelets extendingonly therethrough, and straps attached only to said protective means forsecuring the protector to the wearer, said straps having adjustablespring eyelet fasteners for attachment to said protective means.

2. An arm protector comprising a cloth base of suicient size to encirclea wearers arm, leather protective means having a plurality of metallicparticles spaced about the surface thereof, said protective meanscovering a portion of said base and being detachably secured thereto,hollow eyelets extending only through said protective means forventilation of said cloth base, straps attached only to said protectivemeans at one end thereof for securing the protector to the wearer, saidstraps having detachable spring eyelet fasteners for engagement withstuds fastened on the opposite end of said protective means.

3. An arm protector comprising a flexible base of sulicient size toencircle a wearers arm, flexible protective means having a plurality ofsmall metallic particles spaced about the surface thereof, saidprotective means covering a portion of said base and being detachablysecured thereto, said protective means having hollow eyelets extendingonly therethrough, and straps attached only to said protective means forsecuring the protector to the wearer.

ROY MCK. MANN.

